Donald Harrison Jr. promises a mix of music that will be serious for the musicians, but fun for the listeners. (Kate Mercer, Press-Register)

MOBILE, Alabama -- A festival can certainly be a homecoming, but can a festival have a homecoming?

Organizers of the 14th annual Gulf Coast Ethnic & Heritage Jazz Festival hope to answer with a definitive “yes” on Saturday, Aug. 4, when they present their centerpiece free concert in Cooper Riverside Park. It will be the festival’s first time in the waterfront venue since construction work in the area pushed it to Bienville Square in 2005.

“We’re very enthused about moving back to Cooper Riverside Park, because that was where we began in 1998,” said festival founder Creola Ruffin. “I think the audience is very excited about that because people have been asking, since we moved into Bienville, when we were going to back to Cooper. I think they enjoyed the water and the tugboats coming up and down the river.”

The festival opens Wednesday, Aug. 1, and runs through Sunday, Aug. 5. It features a variety of events, most free, including a jazz camp, an “Evening of Poetry” and a jam session. (See accompanying sidebar for details.)

The riverfront concert will be kicked off by the Excelsior Band, who’ll be followed by vocalist Karmilla Ali. Then come sets by two New Orleans acts, the Bridge Trio and saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr.

That suggests an overall mix heavy on New Orleans and Mardi Gras, but Ruffin and others said there’ll be more variety in the music. For one thing, she said, Ali will “shake it up with a little R&B,” and will dedicate part of her set to a tribute to blues singer Etta James.

The Excelsior Band won’t just be openers, she said. They’ll be honorees as well, being inducted into the festival’s Hall of Fame. Bandleader Hosea London appears on the festival’s 2012 poster.

“It’s just only natural that they should be honored, because that’s one of our oldest brass bands,” Ruffin said. “They’ve been around since 1883.”

¡¤Student Jazz Camp, 9 a.m.-noon Wednesday-Friday, Aug. 1-3, at the History Museum of Mobile, 111 S. Royal St. Free. These sessions, led by Hosea London, are primarily intended for students ages 11-18 but are open to older participants. To register, visit www.gcehjazzfest.com or call 251-432-8343.

¡¤“Evening of Poetry” event, 6:30 p.m. Aug. 2 at the History Museum of Mobile. Free. This event has evolved into a lively festival kickoff with a surprising range of spoken-word performance.

¡¤“Jazz Bag” lunch concert, noon-2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 3 in Bienville Square. Free. The name is a play on the familiar “Brown Bag” lunch concerts. The Bay City Brass Band will give a performance sponsored by the Jazz Foundation of America.

¡¤Jam session, 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5, Gulf City Lodge, 601 State St. Admission $10, venue is BYOB. Jimmy Roebuck will lead a rhythm section for the jam, which will feature an array of area performers.

“That’s an elite, that’s a big deal,” said London of the band’s induction.

Asked if he could estimate the number of Mobile musicians who’d played in Excelsior over the decades, London demurred. ““Wow. Ooh! I could not even begin to guess,” he said. But he added that it would certainly be a Who’s Who of local greats, including the likes of Fred Wesley, E.B. Coleman and Joe Lewis.

As for the band’s performance, he said that while the band might be best known for its Carnival parade tunes, it’s hardly limited to such fare.

“We do more non-parade (concerts) during the year than we do parades,” he said. “We do jazz and blues and dixieland on stage.”

London said that when his band’s set is over, he’s likely to join the audience. “I heard Donald last year, and he’ll put on a good show,” he said of the evening’s headliner. “I always enjoy him.”

There will be an interesting relationship between the last two acts of the night: The Bridge Trio consists of three players from Harrison’s band. They’ll do their own thing for one set, then take their places as part of Harrison’s quintet to close out the night.

Harrison said he might sit in during the Trio’s set, but won’t be coaching them.

“The whole point of my group, I sort of feel like I’m carrying on Art Blakey’s tradition, in that a lot of leaders have come out of my band,” he said of his relationship with younger musicians. “Once they come to fruition, there’s nothing more to do but sit back and be proud of them.”

Harrison himself is known for broad musical interests. He’s incorporated pop, hip-hop and symphonic music into his work, and he’s deeply involved with the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian tradition. He also gained prominence by being featured in Spike Lee’s documentary “When the Levees Broke“ and by appearing in (and serving as a consultant for) the HBO series “Treme.“

“Since the ’80s I’ve been mixing pop music and hip-hop music into jazz,” he said of his plans for the night. “The music will be serious but it’ll still be fun.”

“It has a dance element to it, you know,” he said. “Sometimes everybody gets up and starts to dance. ... It’s going to be funky, it’s going to be swinging. We try to have all those things in our music.”

Donald Harrison Jr. promises a mix of music that will be serious for the musicians, but fun for the listeners. (Kate Mercer, Press-Register)

Ruffin said patrons are welcome to picnic in the park during the concert, and that the show’s organizers aim for an easygoing vibe that’s open to fans of all ages.